(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a charging device and an image forming apparatus.
(ii) Related Art
A corona discharge device that is widely used as a charging device that charges a photoconductor drum of an image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine or a printer, is desirable in that the corona discharge device uniformly charges the surface of the photoconductor drum to a predetermined potential. However, such a corona discharge device generates ozone because it makes use of corona discharge.
In contrast, a brush charging device that charges the surface of a photoconductor drum by electric discharge as a result of bringing a conductive brush to which bias voltage is applied into contact with the surface of the photoconductor drum is desirable in that the generation of ozone is suppressed. The brush charging device includes an insulating substrate, a conductive layer provided on the insulating substrate, and a conductive brush provided on the conductive layer.